MB 0043 – HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Assignment Set - 1

Q.1 Write down the difference between Personal management and Human

Resource Management.

Ans.: The history of Human Resource Management traces its roots to the east

while Personal Management that was prevalent in the companies of a few decades

ago. Though the two terms ‘Personal Management’ and ‘Human Resource

Management’ are interchangeably used by most of the authors, there are key

differentiators that make Personal Management (PM) different from Human

Resource Management (HRM). HRM is clearly based on the foundation of

behavioral science knowledge relating to the handling of employees to motivate

organizational goals. The focus is more proactive approach and pays attention to

employee satisfaction and delight. Business goals and objectives and the strategies

that will enable this to happen are the foundation for HRM. The basic philosophy is

driven by the theory Y approach where the belief is that people like to work and do

not prefer to be supervised and made to perform. The employee becomes a

champion for the organization and its product/service.

PM is that management style that deals with the control and reactive problem

solving approach to resolve employee issues in an organization. The philosophy for

the PM approach relied on the theory X approach that believed that people do not

naturally like to work and need to be coerced to work and often need to be driven to

work is more the ‘stick’ approach rather than ‘carrot’ approach. Rigid rules of do’s

and don’ts exist and these provide the framework for employee’s behavior at the

workplace. Employee welfare and formal grievance systems play a significant role

here and thereby managing industrial relations with high amount of trade union

activity are highlighted.

Very few organizations today practice this style to people management, as the

benefits and the long term gains from a HRM approach, impact business result far

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more. HRM emphasizes on training, as an important area of people management,

which covers the following aspects –

a. Increasing productivity

b. Improving quality

c. Improving organizational climate

d. Ensuring personal growth etc.

Q.2 Write a note on scope of HR in India.

Ans.: Contrary to these forces, in India the owner manager / government / public

sector manager was an industry icon and a national hero of sorts. The Personal

Management practices were dominant of the ‘brick-and-motor’ industry. Though the

approach was largely welfare oriented and reactive in nature it served effectively for

the large PSU organizations that built the country’s foundation. A large part of the

workforce was migrant from the rural parts of the country and armed with

educational qualifications that served as there ‘passport to a secure future’. Many

left the country to study and pursue career overseas. This phenomenon was called

‘brain drain’ and happened during 1990 through to 2005. The best of the Indian

talent left the country. Per present statistics there are close to 1.7 million people of

Indian origin in America according to the US Census Bureau. The Indian American

median family income is $38,885., left the country. The estimated buying power of

the Indian Americans in the United States is around US$20 billion. The high income

clearly reflects the advanced educational levels achieved by Indian abroad.

It’s only in the past 10-12 years with the immense growth on account of the IT

industry that winds of change began to blow. It was largely the advent of the

Information Technology era in India that brought with it the western management

practices. MNC’s (Multinational Companies) started up their operations in India. The

FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) went up steeply as the world saw the potential in

the country’s human resources. India became a preferred location for MNC’s

primarily from the USA, followed by other developed countries. It was natural for the

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MNC’s setting up operations in India to establish their existing and proven

management practices that were successfully working in the organizations back

home. It also helped them manager their business similarly.

This gave birth to a new generation of management as well as HRM practices. New

hiring methods, new ways of paying salaries, new employment terms and most

importantly increased focus on individual performance and outcomes. There was

emphasis on deliverables and linking individual and tem performance to business

results and success. Given the highly educated workforce there was a de-emphasis

in the role of the trade unions. The era of the trade union dominance gave way to

the new order of individual salaries and terms and clearly performance linked

assessment systems. Another transformation that the Indian workplace witnessed

was the focus on ethics and ethical practices in doing business. It was only fair to

expect that with the weak legal system, it needed the support of the government

policies and the corporate policies to beat the corruption that existed. This has

significantly contributed to India emerging as a [referred destination for doing

business.

All of this has yielded to give way to the birth of the ‘professional manager’.

Professional mangers today are a critical and essential part of the Indian corporate.

The professional manager brought about a shift in the culture from a highly

authoritarian approach of getting work done, to a more collaborative and

participative approach. In the traditional Indian culture where the child is brought up

to be dependent on parents and superiors this shift was breakthrough and took its

time to manifest. The entrepreneurs who earlier operated in a secure, sheltered

market and hardly face challenges, were challenged by the globalization that swept

in with the liberalization policies and measure brought in by the Indian government

late 1995 and onwards. Despite the challenges, the Indian employee and his

manager evolved. Together they stepped up to face the challenge head-on and to

win not only in India but also globally. The levers of (a) low cost, (b) highly skilled

and (c) English as the medium of education and it being the corporate-language

were the key drivers that enabled the flow of global business to India. There was

exponential growth in employment both directly (jobs in the international and

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domestic companies) as well as indirectly (as support industries like transport,

catering and ancillary industries). The simultaneous investment of the government

in building the necessary infrastructure did its share of providing impetus towards

creating more jobs for the people of the country.

Hence, human relations movement in India has evolved very differently as

compared to what we see in the developed economies of the USA and the UK.

What is currently acting as a limitation is the enhanced awareness on the need for

research based HRM practices. While there is a lot of work happening in the Indian

education system to promote this, it is going to take a while before it can create a

distinct body of knowledge that is reference-able. For now the industry relies on

emulating westerns HR practices and customizing on an as-needed basis for the

Indian corporation. For the rest the industry forums and consortiums like the

NASSCOM act as a hub bringing together organizations on a regular basis to

discuss challenges and share best practices and identify ways and means to

overcome them together. So far this has been successful and working to the

advantage of the Indian corporate. Leading MNC research and consulting firms like

Mercer and Hewitt too contribute to the industry through carrying out research and

sharing reports on a regular basis. The approach however remains analytical and

less prescriptive.

Q.3 Explain the critical steps in Human Resource planning system.

Ans.: The Human Resource planning process consist of a set of activities as

follows

a) Forecasting manpower requirements, either by using mathematical tools

to project trends in the economic environment and development in

industry, or in by using simple judgmental estimates based on the specific

future business plans of the company.

b) Creating an inventory of present manpower resources and assessing the

extent to which these resources are employed / optimally;

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c) Identifying manpower problems by projecting present resources into the

future to determine their adequacy, both quantitatively and qualitatively;

and

d) Planning the necessary programs of requirement selection, training,

development, utilization, transfer, promotion, motivation and

compensation to ensure that future manpower requirements are properly

met.

Thus, it will be noted that ‘manpower planning consist in projecting future manpower

requirements and developing manpower plans for the implementation of the

projections’.

Q.4 With reference to the compensation and salary system what are the

systems that are helpful to raise the effectiveness of employees.

Ans.: Compensation and salary system are designed to ensure that employees are

rewarded appropriately depending on what they do and the skills and knowledge

(intellect) required for doing a specific job. It must therefore provide for the following

key factors in order to be effective. The following factors may be helpful to raise the

effectiveness of employees.

a) Signal to the employee the major objectives of the organizations –

therefore it must link to the overall goals and objectives of the

company. For example if doing a quality job is critical for the company

its compensation system has to ensure that this is adequately

rewarded. On the other hand if company values productivity and units

produced, the compensation system would be designed such that

productivity is rewarded.

b) Attract and retain the talent an organization needs – the need to

benchmark salaries to the prevalent market standard for that job / skill

so that the company is able to attract the right talent. If a enterprise

pays a salary lower that what the market does for that job, the

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probability that suitable candidates would take the job offer and join

the company. Even if they do join subsequently when they find that

the market pays more for that job they would quickly find a more

remuneration job and leave the company.

c) Motivate employees to perform effectively – as discussed at the

outset, money is a key motivator and it often might be the only

motivator for most employees, therefore ensuring that compensation

is appropriately disbursed need to be taken care of while designing

the compensation system. Jobs in the brick and motor, production

setups would focus on higher incentive policies that would motivate

the employee to produce more while the base-salary would be low.

d) Create the type of culture the company seeks to engender –

compensation systems play a critical role as sponsors for the

organizations culture. A performance driven culture would build

compensation policies that clearly and significantly reward

performance. A company that rewards loyalty would reward

employees who stay longer in the company with significantly better

incentive programs.

Hence we see how compensation systems are reflective or the organizations over

all philosophy or what its goals & objectives are and how this can be linked to salary

payout.

Q.5 What is competency? How it can be linked to the HR system?

Ans.: One of the key benefits of the competency based management approach is

its usage to build all of the other HR systems such as requirement, performance

management, training and development, career development, compensation

management and Succession planning.

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a). Recruitment & selection: The competency profile for a job serves as the

reference for the candidate hunt for the position. It is used at multiple stages in the

recruitment and selection process.

Job description and competency profile shared with the recruitment

consultant as well as hosted on the company internet and internet site

for prospective applicants to view.

Use the competencies to design the appropriate selection tests and

other methods.

Assessment forms for interviewers to contain the competency list and

specify the desired proficiency levels

b). Performance Management: Increasingly the focus in most organizations using

competency frameworks is to build competency based performance assessment

processes. The employee’s performance is assessed on the core tasks and results

as well as on the competencies required for the job he/she is doing. If there are

gaps between the desired proficiency and the current proficiency of the employee

the employee is reviewed for development initiatives to improve the competency. If

the employee has competencies above the desired proficiency he is potential talent

and needs to be nurtured for other roles and higher responsibilities.

c). Training needs: As explained above the information on gaps in competencies

are collated for employees across the organizations and suitable training

interventions are designed. The methodology used for competency improvement is

usually action learning based. Focus is on internalizing the learning by ensuring

workplace application projects and activities. Manager support in making

competency training useful is important.

d). Career Planning: Competency assessment are popularly used for helping an

employee discover his strength competencies and therefore serve as effective

means for the employee to identify what role/job can be best for the competencies

the employee possesses. Most career planning assessment and activities are built

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on enhancing the employee’s strength areas and identifying jobs that match the

strengths.

e). Compensation philosophy: While there is significant work done in researching

competency based compensation, the practical application of competency based

compensation systems is not as easy. The competency framework provides a

common benchmark of all jobs across the organization on the competencies

required and the proficiency level for the competency. This framework is then

mapped to levels or grades that create a job to level mapping.

f). Succession Planning: Competency based management is most effective in

succession planning initiatives. Competency assessment is widely used to identify

and nurture talent in organizations. Most succession planning decisions use the

competency assessment data for the employee and this along with the career

planning data are used to ascertain employee readiness and inclination for new

roles and responsibilities in the critical roles identified for succession planning.

Q.6 “Dynamic Learning” is an organization that wants to revise the HR

policies. It has conducted a survey and the results of survey indicated that

r=there is employee unrest, tardiness, absenteeism, more grievances. This all

clearly indicates low morale. Suggest the measures that can be taken to

improve employee morale.

Ans.: The following are the positive measures to be taken to bring job satisfaction

to the employees and reconcile individual interests with the interests of the

organization.

a). Creation of whole jobs – Under this method, complete jobs are assigned to the

employees. The complexity of a job should be increased so that it may appeal to

their higher needs.

b). Job enrichment – Job enrichment tries to deal with dissatisfaction by increasing

job depth. Under this, individual employee may be given responsibility for seeing

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their own work pace, for concerning their own errors, and/or for deciding on the best

way to perform a particular task.

c). Building responsibility into a job – Employees should be encouraged to

participate and if possible be held responsible for taking decisions. Some delegation

of responsibility from the manager to the employee could be useful in improving

ownership.

d). Managerial effectiveness – This can be achieved by –

Developing work groups

Improving the social contacts of the employees - time away from work in

team building and fun activities.

Managerial coaching discussed above

Employee stress management activities

e). Flexing working hours – Flex time / work from home provisions allow employees

to arrange their work hours to suit their personal needs and life-styles. This is

particularly suited to situations with fluctuating workloads. Flex time employees are

responsible for coordinating their functions with other employees and thereby have

more responsibility and autonomy.

f). Rotation of jobs – This reduces employee’s boredom which arises out of the

monotonous nature of his work.

g). Incentive and profit sharing plans – Morale can be improved by effective

incentive and profit sharing schemes. Incentive schemes are effective in improving

workplace morale. They need to carefully designed (preferably by experts) well

communicated and implemented to be effective. In addition to its economic aspects,

profit sharing has also psychological aspects relating to friendly move by the

management in providing the employees an opportunity to participate in the profits.

Morale can also be improved by adapting several other measures such as

employee contest, special recognition and awards to long service employees and

training the managers in how to manager peoples.

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Assignment Set - 2

Q.1 List and explain the sources of recruitment?

Ans.: The sources of employees can be classified into two types, internal and

external. Filling a job opening from within the firm has the advantages of stimulating

preparation for possible transfer / promotions, serves as a key motivator for internal

employees who are aspiring for a move, increasing the general level of morale and

provides more information about job candidates through analysis of work histories

within the organization.

In most instances, the jobs are posted on the employee intranet portals / notice

boards, through some carry listings in the company newspapers. The posting period

could be anywhere between 2-3 weeks, with the final decision for hiring being

completed within 4-6 weeks. Internal applications are usually open to all employees

with a few restrictions such as tenure within the company and poor performance

issues if any.

External recruitment is when the organization clearly prefers to hire from outside the

organization for the job. Organizations most definitely go for external hiring for lower

level jobs, when they are expanding, during phases of rapid growth and for

positions whose skills / experience specifications cannot be met by existing human

resources.

Below are the common outside sources available for the recruitment –

a). Advertising – In both the print as well as the web media. Among the best

methods when the organization needs to reach a large audience and usually at

least 5-6 or more job openings. First advertisements can be placed in the

appropriate media to be ready by particular media groups. Secondly, more

information about the company, the job, and the job specification can be included in

the advertisement to permit some self screening. Advertisement invites a fair

amount or poor candidate profiles and therefore a fair amount of time and effort of

the firm’s recruitment teams is spent in screening. Often organization that can afford

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the cost, outsource this to a placement agency those take care of the first few steps

in the screening process.

b). Professional placement organizations or recruiting firms or executive head-

hunters – Maintain complete information about employable candidates, who usually

are already employed elsewhere. These consulting firms therefore maintain an

active database of skilled and experienced resources. They work closely with

organizations though contractual agreements to source appropriate candidates for

the firm’s requirement. These firms are looked upon as ‘head hunters’, ‘raiders’ and

‘pirates’ by organizations which lose human resources through their efforts.

However, these same organizations may employ “executive search firms” to help

them find talent.

c). Job portals and job sites – Job portals are hosted by a recruitment agency with a

large database of skilled and experienced candidates. An organization looking for a

particular skill set can register on the portal for a monthly / quarterly / annual fee

and browse for the desired candidate profile and obtain a potential list of candidates

who fit the profile. This is a common sourcing method in organizations.

d). Employment Agencies – Additional screening can be affected through the

utilization of employment agencies, both public and private.

e). Employment referrals – Fast emerging as the latest most effective method is the

referral route to staffing. Friends and relatives or present employees are also a

good source from which employees may be drawn.

f). Schools, Colleges and professional institutions – Popularly called campus

recruitment, organizations engage with education institutions that educate students

for ready-to-work jobs, like engineers and management graduates by offering

opportunities for recruiting their student. These institutions operate (usually annual)

placement services / events where complete bio-data and other particulars of the

students are made available along with interviewing opportunities. These general &

technical / professional institutions provide blue-collar applicants, while collar and

managerial human resources.

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g). Causal applicants – Unsolicited applications, both at the gate and through the

career site on the web page and even on post mail, constitute a much-used source

of human resources. But are the fast losing their value and are no longer o\counted

as a valid method. Similarly unsolicited applications for positions in which large

numbers of candidates are not available from other sources, the companies may

gain keeping files of application received from candidates who make direct

enquiries about possible vacancies on their own, or may send unconsolidated

applications. The information may be indexed and filed for future use when there

are openings in these jobs.

h). Indoctrination seminars for colleges professors – Seminars are arranged to

discuss the problem of companies and employees. Professors are invited to take

part in these seminars. Visits to plants and banquets are arranged so that the

participant professors may be favorably impressed. They may later speak well of a

company & help it in getting the required human resources.

i). Contractual staffing – To adjust to short-term fluctuations in human resources

needs, it is commonplace in organizations to contract employees of another

employer by the hour or day. While this practice has been particularly well-

established in the office administration filed today almost any job can be sub-

contracted through a third party vendor with whom the firm enters into a contract.

j). Voluntary organizations – Such as private clubs, social organizations might also

provide employees – handicaps, widowed or married women, old person, retired

hands, etc., in response to advertisements.

Q.2 Write a note on objectives of training.

Ans.: The chief aim of learning for the manager is to increase his ability to learn

from experience. The second aim is to increase his ability to help his subordinates

learn from experience. According to Douglas McGregor, there are three different

objectives of training.

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a). Acquiring intellectual / job related knowledge – An electrical engineer may need

more knowledge than he now possesses about circuit design. A new employee may

require knowledge about company policies. The acquisition of knowledge therefore

is a fairly straight-forward process provided the individual wants the new knowledge.

However, if he does not want the knowledge, there is little doubt that training will

fail. Creating a self-driven need for knowledge is fundamental to employee learning.

b). Acquiring manual skills – The acquisition of a manual skill requires practice or

experience along with feedback. While learning can happen in a isolated self-

learning mode, it can be significantly speeded up by guidance and theoretical

knowledge imparted by experts. The end objective remains that the employee be

able to execute the skill effectively back on the job.

c). Acquiring managerial skills – Much of a manager’s work is managing people and

solving problems. These include organizing his own and his team member’s work

activities, and planning for a wide range of other decision making responsibilities.

These are skills include diagnosing problems, interpreting relevant data, assessing

alternative solutions and getting feedback concerning the effectiveness of the

solution. These skills can be improved through classroom training.

As with any skill, practice and feedback are essential for learning. The most widely

used classroom method for improving the problem-solving skills is the case method.

In the hands of a skilful teacher, it can be highly effective.

Q.3 What are the different career development activities? Explain.

Ans.: A variety of career development activities and tools exist for use in

organizations. Some of the more popular are as follows –

a). Self assessment tools – These are usually technology enabled on-line (on the

corporate intranet) tools that form part of the performance appraisal system and

allow the individual to identify areas of strengths and parallelly identify career paths

that would leverage these strengths the best. E.g. career planning workbooks,

career workshops hosted by the organizations from time to time.

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b). Individual counseling – Formally the process allows for individuals to discuss this

as part of the performance management process with their immediate managers

and share & take feedback on the appropriateness of the choices and how to go

about pursuing it.

c). Information services – Organizations have established policies on what skills and

experiences that each job in the organization requires. Jobs with similar skills and

experiences are clubbed together to create parallel career paths. These career

paths would be supplemented with additional information on skills and experience

that one must have for each role/job in the career path. The employee can also

approach career resource / talent management centers supported by the HR teams

for more information on how to plan career and apply for new roles and jobs.

d). Initial employment programs organizations also run internship and

apprenticeship programs wherein the individuals aspiring to do a particular job can

spend some time as a temporary employee to explore interest and skill fitment for

the job/role.

e). Organizational assessment programs – organizations can proactively establish

formal processes wherein an employee can volunteer to participate and understand

him/herself strengths.

f). Developmental programs focus the effort the employee towards helping the

employee to achieve his career goals.

No matter what tools are used for career development, it is important that

employees develop and individualized career plan.

Q.4 Discuss some steps that are commonly practiced for motivating

employees.

Ans.: Below are some steps commonly practiced for motivating employees –

a). Clearly analyzing the situation requiring motivation – Every employee needs

motivation. It is the primary responsibility of the manager to work closely with each

of his team members and identify the motivators that drive effort and performance in

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them. Organizations usually have an annual process that allows for conversations

around career plans and aspirations. It is good to involve others in analyzing so the

appropriate action can be taken.

b). Have a motivation tool kit – Managers, supported by HR, must have a list of

motivational initiates from which she/he could select & apply specific tools of

motivation.

c). Selection & applying the appropriate motivator – Assigning the right motivation

technique is important. It is a good idea to involve the individual and have him

decide on what will best satisfy his needs. Give him an understanding of the

organization’s total goals and the part that he is contributing. All along the manager

needs to be prepared in-case the employee’s aspirations are contrary or conflicting

with the team/organization’s goals.

d). Follow-up and review – The process usually provides for on-going review. The

primary objective is to ascertain if an employee has been motivated or not. If not,

some other technique could be adopted. A secondary purpose of follow-up is to

evaluate motivation plans for future guidance.

Q.5 Describe the grievance handling procedure.

Ans.: Principals suggested by the Indian Institute of Personal Management for

addressing the grievance are as follows –

a). A grievance should be dealt within the limits of the first line manager.

b). The appellate authority should be made clear to the employee so that if he

cannot get satisfaction from his immediate manager, he should know the next step.

c). The grievance should be dealt with speedily.

d). In establishing a grievance procedure, if the grievance is against an instruction

given by a superior in the interest of order and discipline, the instructions must be

carried out first and then only employee can register his protest.

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There should be no resource to official machinery of conciliation unless the

procedure has been carried out without reaching any solution.

The details of the grievance procedure vary from industry to industry and from trade

union to trade union because of the variations in the size of organizations, trade

union strength, the management philosophy, the company traditions, industrial

practices and in the cost factor. An important aspect of the grievance machinery is

the reassurance given to an individual employee by the mere fact that there is a

mechanism available to him which will consider his grievance in a dispassionate

and detailed manner & that his point of view will be hard and given due

consideration.

Initial step –

The greatest opportunity for the settlement of a complaint or grievance lies in the

initial step of the procedure. If there is no normal procedure and the firm announces

an open-door policy, then it is possible that the manager may get bypassed by the

worker who would take his grievance directly to the higher levels of management.

Intermediate step –

As the figure indicates, the next step on the management side of the procedure is to

submit the dispute to middle management. Involving the manager’s middle and

senior-line managers in the grievance process helps in two ways. Initially, the social

barriers between the various categories are, to some extent, broken by personal

contact and mutual understanding. Secondly, the problem solving approach

integrates the various levels in the organization into a team to jointly overcome the

problem which concerns not only the worker but the manager as well. However, it is

important to ensure that the line management assumes prime responsibility for the

settlement of a grievance.

Final company union step –

Usually, the final step to be undertaken by the company and union is a discussion of

the grievance between representatives of top management and top union officials.

For management, it may be the President in important grievance, a Vice-president,

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or high level Industrial relations executive but, for the union, it may be the President

of the local union, the Union Executive Committee, or a representative or the

International Union. It is difficult to secure an integration of interests at this high

level.

Q.6 Write a note on types of groups.

Ans.: Groups are commonly classified on the basis of purpose or goal, extent of

structuring; legal organization or setting. Classification of group on a very broad

basis is done by grouping people with similar skills or competencies together. It is

important to note that not all groups might be formally established in an

organization. Following are the two distinct types of work groups – formal &

informal.

a). Formal work group –

The end goal of the manager’s organizing responsibility is to create formal work

groups that are necessary to achieve the organization’s goals. Formal work groups

together constitute the whole organizations.

All formal work groups have a designed leader who supervises the work of the

group members, monitors performance, provides feedback and training and is

responsible for group performance to a higher authority in the organization. He

holds both the responsibility as well as the authority to deliver the expectations from

the group. Sometimes group members may or may not have a say in the objectives,

rules of behavior, task assignments, or performance standards of the group.

b). Informal work group –

Informal work groups exist in formal as well as informal organizations. Informal

groups are loosely organized groups such as cricket teams and social clubs that

arise apart from the formal organization to which members of the informal group

may belong. They exist because the formal groups established within the

organization often fail to satisfy ‘all’ of the human needs to a sufficient degree. This

could also be because all the organizational structure rarely anticipates everything

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that must be done if the organization is to meet its entire objective. From the

perspective of the employee, informal work group provide a source of satisfaction

for security needs, social needs, and esteem needs.

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